Dear Julie,

I did some research on Galvanic Mechamorphs yesterday. My phone ran out of batteries on the way home from Khoros. Wasn't much else to do.

Apparently baby Mechamorphs take about 14 years to become adults. This site on the Extranet says they should school around three years old. How old is Ship now? One and a half? Two?

How is he, anyway? Is he starting to talk yet? More than just saying his name over and over, I mean. Are you still teaching him tricks? I hope he can still do the robot suit thing. That was pretty sweet.

It's weird. I never really though of Ship as a person. He's always just been the dog. You think it's bad that we all raised him like one? We probably screwed him up pretty bad. Nothing a few years of therapy can't fix, or a quick reprogramming.

I'm thinking of sending you some of the information I got. Stuff about caring for him and raising him right. And by send it I mean actually send it, not just pretend to send it like with this letter. I'll do it through the Plumbers, though. You probably don't want to hear from me.

Anyway, it's time for everyone to start treating him like a person instead of a pet.

If you're wondering why I care at all, I don't know. It's weird. I guess maybe it's because he's sort of the closest thing I have to a kid? Except maybe Big Chill's kids, but you were there for that too. You know, for a couple that never had sex, we sure ended up with a lot of babies.

...I regret writing that. I should stop before I say anything worse.

— Ben